Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

First Edition: March 22, 2017

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

Kaiser Health News:
Trump’s Promise To Rein In Drug Prices Could Open Dam To Importation Laws
With prescription drug prices soaring and President Donald Trump vowing to take action, an old idea is gaining fresh traction: allowing Americans to buy medicines from foreign pharmacies at far lower prices. A new bill in Congress to allow the practice would modify previous safety standards and remove a barrier that proved insurmountable in past attempts to enable progress. (Bluth, 3/22)

Kaiser Health News:
GAO To Launch Investigation Of FDA’s Orphan Drug Program
Acting on a request from three influential U.S. senators, the government’s accountability arm confirmed that it will investigate potential abuses of the Orphan Drug Act. The Government Accountability Office still must determine the full scope of what it will look into and the methodology to be used. Determining the scope will take some months, said Chuck Young, GAO’s managing director for public affairs. (Tribble, 3/21)

Kaiser Health News:
A Young Man With Parkinson’s Frets Over The Affordability Of GOP Health Plan
Many millennials have their hands full as they launch into adulthood — jobs, homes and partners. But Ford Inbody, 33, already thinks about a time when he won’t be able to work. He has Parkinson’s disease. Every night after work, he and his wife, Cortney, walk their two dogs through their Overland Park, Kan., neighborhood. For now, going out for an evening’s stroll is easy. But many of their evening conversations revolve around a time they know is coming — when these walks will prove difficult. (Smith, 3/22)

The Associated Press:
Trump To GOP: Pass Health Care Bill Or Seal Your Fate
"If we fail to get it done, fail to (meet) the promises made by all of us, including the president, then it could have a very detrimental effect to Republicans in '18 who are running for re-election," said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas. "If it fails, then there will be a lot of people looking for work in 2018. "Trump's message to Republicans: "If you don't pass the bill there could be political costs," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. (3/21)

The Washington Post:
Trump To GOP Critics Of Health Care Bill: ‘I’m Gonna Come After You’
[Trump] singled out Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, which has led the right-wing opposition to the bill. “I’m gonna come after you, but I know I won’t have to, because I know you’ll vote ‘yes,’ ” Trump said, according to several lawmakers who attended the meeting. “Honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks.” Trump’s remarks — which Meadows said he took as good-natured ribbing — reflected his mounting urgency to secure a major legislative victory in the early months of his presidency and fulfill a central campaign promise by repealing the signature domestic achievement of President Barack Obama. (DeBonis, Snell and Costa, 3/21)

The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Warns House GOP To Support Health-Care Bill Or Risk Losing Votes In 2018
Mr. Meadows, whose bloc claims it has enough votes to defeat the bill, said he wasn’t convinced by Mr. Trump—a sign GOP leaders have more work to do to secure the votes needed to pass the bill. “It won’t lower premiums, and until it does, I’m going to be a ‘no,’ even if it sends me home,” Mr. Meadows said of the legislation after the president addressed lawmakers. “As a person, I love him,” said Rep. Rod Blum (R., Iowa), after the president’s presentation. Hearing from Mr. Trump “was a lot of fun. But it didn’t change me at all.” (Armour, Peterson and Hughes, 3/21)

Politico:
Trump, GOP Leaders Lack Votes To Pass Obamacare Repeal
Hours after being singled out by Trump over his opposition to the Republican health care plan, Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said his group of conservatives still has the votes to block the bill. Freedom Caucus insiders say the group has 27 members who are firmly against it or leaning "no." (Bade, Bresnahan and Cheney, 3/21)

Los Angeles Times:
After A Day Of Trying To Close The Deal, Trump Remains Short On Healthcare Votes
The morning strategy session at the Capitol was the first time in his two months as president that Trump met with almost the full House Republican Conference that was elected with him in November. The membership reflects the disparate coalition of Republicans who aligned to make him their standard-bearer last year. The question for the party now is whether that ideologically diverse group can govern. (Memoli and Mascaro, 3/21)

Politico:
Trump's Penchant For Vengeance Casts Shadow On Health Care Vote
For a president with a penchant for vengeance — who named “an eye for an eye” as his favorite biblical passage, who banned media outlets from campaign events when he didn’t approve of their coverage, who after the election ousted a GOP state chairman whom he viewed as disloyal, who just last week reminded a GOP governor who hadn’t endorsed him that “I never forget” — the roll-call vote on the Republican health care plan, expected Thursday, will be the first accounting of who’s with him and who’s against him on Capitol Hill. (Goldmacher, 3/21)

Politico:
Trump And The Art Of The Health Deal
President Donald Trump may be hands off when it comes to health policy, but the task of corralling Republicans is right up his alley. His work to close the deal on the GOP bill to repeal Obamacare harks back to his days as a developer who mixed hyperbole with weighty-sounding promises and/or threats to get what he wanted. (Bettelheim and Millman, 3/21)

USA Today:
Rules Committee To Choreograph House Vote To Kill Obamacare
House Republicans are expected to clear the way Wednesday for a Thursday vote on the GOP’s Obamacare overhaul. “This is our chance and this is our moment,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday after President Trump made a personal pitch to GOP lawmakers to pass the bill. “I think our members are beginning to appreciate just what kind of a rendezvous with destiny we have right here.” (Groppe, 3/22)

The Associated Press:
Ryan's Legacy As Speaker On Line With Health Care Vote
The vote on the Republican health care bill is a defining moment for House Speaker Paul Ryan that could boost his aggressive agenda to overhaul the tax code and remake the federal government. Or send it off the rails. If he fails? "It will be very hard to manage this," the Wisconsin Republican told reporters ahead of Thursday's likely vote. (3/22)

The Wall Street Journal:
Ryan’s Leadership Is Tested By GOP’s Civil War On Health Bill
The test for Mr. Ryan is whether he can make the leap from serving as the architect of conservative policy, a role he played for years as the party’s leading budget author, to the more difficult role of guiding legislation into law. The task is much tougher now than when Republicans passed bills with the knowledge that a Democratic president would veto them. “Everybody understands that we’re dealing with live ammo now,” said Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), a roommate of Mr. Ryan when they served together in the House. (Peterson, 3/21)

The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Work To Repair GOP Divide Over Health-Care Overhaul
The fate of the GOP health-care plan depends largely on whether divided Republicans can decide just how far they want to go in torpedoing the central underpinnings of Affordable Care Act. Conservative Republicans are pressing to swiftly gut most of the law while more moderate GOP members want the federal government to play more of a central role in helping people obtain coverage. (Armour, 3/21)

Los Angeles Times:
This Is Where All Of California's House Republicans Stand On The GOP Healthcare Bill
Less than two days before they are scheduled to vote, a handful of California’s 14 Republican members of Congress say they are still weighing how to vote on the GOP plan to undo and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act. California’s 38 House Democrats have lined up pretty firmly against the bill, as have most of the chamber’s Democrats, so Republicans are on their own to pass the bill. House Republicans can afford to lose up to 20 members and still pass it with a simple majority. (Wire, 3/21)

Politico:
Don’t Count On ‘Third Prong’ Of GOP Health Overhaul
House Republicans chasing the final votes to repeal much of Obamacare are promising hard-liners they'll fix the rest of the health care system with another batch of conservative bills down the road. The hitch is those bills would almost certainly die in the Senate — as several of them have done before. (Demko, 3/21)

Politico:
House Democrats' New Obamacare Strategy: Get Out Of The Way
House Democrats have a new plan to tank Paul Ryan’s Obamacare repeal: Get out of the way. Democratic leaders in the House know they’re powerless to stop the GOP’s health care bill. So instead, with a repeal vote looming Thursday, they’re executing a strategic retreat. (Caygle and Schor, 3/22)

Politico:
House Obamacare Repeal DOA In The Senate
Forget the House GOP's troubles passing a health care bill. The party's bigger problem looms in the Senate. Mitch McConnell is being tasked with fixing what GOP senators and House members say is a flawed Obamacare repeal proposal — one with little to no chance of passing in that chamber in its current form — in a week’s time. (Everett and Haberkorn, 3/22)

NPR:
Medicaid Work Requirement Wouldn't Shrink Spending Much
If you're poor and you want to keep your health insurance, you may have to go to work. That's the message from Republican lawmakers who Monday night released a series of changes to their plan to overhaul the Affordable Care Act.A key change, designed to help attract votes from conservative Republicans, would let state governors require people to work to qualify for health insurance under Medicaid. (Kodjak, 3/21)

The New York Times:
Medicaid Fight Lands In New York, Crossing Party Lines
The governor likened it to an act of war. A Democratic congresswoman called it a brazen case of theft. And a Republican legislative leader suggested it could be a crisis on the level of 9/11. Even as Congress debated a massive and divisive overhaul of the nation’s health care system, a late amendment to the bill seemingly singling out New York’s state government for new financial responsibilities under Medicaid set off a separate political firestorm in the president’s home state, again pitting its Democratic governor against Mr. Trump and his Republican surrogates. (McKinley, 3/21)

The Washington Post Fact Checker:
Trump’s Biggest Obamacare Bloopers
President Trump is like a broken record of Pinocchios, incessantly repeating false and misleading claims that have been debunked. As Congress debates the Republican replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act, Trump has been on a greatest-hits tour of his favorite, and questionable, claims about Obamacare. We compiled a round-up of his most notable claims from the past week. (Lee and Kessler, 3/22)

The Associated Press Fact Check:
Trump's Claim Of Fleeing Doctors Rings False
Making the case for a Republican repeal and replacement of his predecessor's health care law, President Donald Trump reached for a dire-sounding argument that's unsupported by the data. "Many of our best and brightest are leaving the medical profession entirely because of Obamacare," Trump told his audience at a Monday night rally in Louisville, Kentucky. In fact, the number of doctors in the U.S. actively caring for patients grew from 799,501 in 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, to 860,939 in 2015, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. (Drinkard, 3/22)

The Washington Post:
Americans Worry, Cheer As Congress Moves To Upend The Affordable Care Act
A soon-to-be father whose wife is getting prenatal care through the Affordable Care Act. A woman whose mother would have been bankrupted by her cancer diagnosis had she not had ACA coverage. An older self-employed couple, insured under the law, who for “the first time in our lives” can afford to see doctors and buy medicines. This month, they and nearly 1,200 other people responded when The Washington Post asked readers how they thought the health-care debate on Capitol Hill would affect them: “Do you or someone you know have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act? What do you think of the proposed changes by Congress? Are you concerned about a specific part of the plan? Share your story.” (Somashekhar, 3/22)

NPR:
Arizona Welcomed Medicaid Expansion, Now Fears Losing Out Under GOP Plan
Connie Dotts is a big fan of her insurance. "I like that we can choose our own doctors," says the 60-year-old resident of Mesa, Ariz. "They also have extensive mental health coverage." Dotts isn't on some pricey plan, either. She's among the nearly 2 million people enrolled in Medicaid in Arizona and one of the more than 400,000 who have signed up since the Republican-led state expanded Medicaid in 2013. (Stone, 3/22)

The Washington Post:
FDA OKs New Drug As Add-On Treatment For Parkinson’s
U.S. regulators have approved the first new drug in a decade for Parkinson’s disease, a chronic neurological disorder that causes tremors and movement difficulties. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it has approved Xadago for use when a patient’s regular medicines aren’t working well. The pill was tested in two six-month studies that included about 1,200 patients taking a standard treatment, levodopa. (Johnson, 3/21)

The Wall Street Journal:
Two Cheers For Biogen’s Court Victory
Biogen scored another intellectual property win for its investors Tuesday, but growth concerns remain. The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board upheld a key piece of intellectual property on Biogen’s multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, following a hedge fund’s challenge to its validity. Biogen shares rose Tuesday morning, even as most biotech stocks sold off sharply. (Grant, 3/21)

The Associated Press:
Federal Judge Defers Ruling On Missouri Abortion Rules
Planned Parenthood pressed a federal judge Tuesday to block abortion-restricting Missouri rules similar to Texas ones struck down last year by the U.S. Supreme Court, while an attorney for Missouri countered that undoing the Missouri regulations could endanger women. U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs deferred a ruling until at least next month after hearing arguments over the preliminary injunction request by Planned Parenthood affiliates with Missouri health centers. (Suhr, 3/21)

The Associated Press:
Conservative Group To Challenge Abortion Regulation Changes
The conservative Family Foundation of Virginia says it plans to file a legal challenge over the way the state did away with restrictive regulations for abortion centers. The group says it notified Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration Tuesday of its intention to file an administrative appeal over the health and safety regulations, which were updated in October.Foundation President Victoria Cobb says the administration violated state law in its “quest to water down” the standards. (3/21)

Los Angeles Times:
Gun Injuries Cost Americans $730 Million A Year In Hospital Bills
Americans paid more than $6.6 billion over eight years to care for victims of gun violence, according to a new tally of hospital bills. And U.S. taxpayers picked up at least 41% of that tab. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, say the authors of a study published this week in the American Journal of Public Health. Their sum does not include the initial — and very costly — bill for gunshot victims’ care in emergency rooms. Nor does it include hospital readmissions to treat complications or provide follow-up care. The cost of rehabilitation, or of ongoing disability, is not included either. (Healy, 3/22)

The New York Times:
9 Deaths Are Linked To Rare Cancer From Breast Implants
A rare cancer first linked to breast implants in 2011 has now been associated with nine deaths, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday. As of Feb. 1, the agency had received a total of 359 reports of the cancer associated with the implants. The deaths were not caused by breast cancer, the agency said, but by a rare malignancy in the immune system, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. (Grady, 3/21)

The Washington Post:
In New Report, Doctors Urge More Exercise For Pregnant Women
Old health advice often dies hard. This is particularly true — perhaps dangerously so — of historic advice for pregnant women, according to a new Viewpoint published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Most adults remember the traditional guidelines for expectant mothers. Get as much rest as possible during your pregnancy, even prolonged bed rest if complications arise. At the same time, “eat for two” — you and your developing child. According to the new report, however, “these misguided recommendations” have “evolved into a major contributor to the worldwide obesity epidemic.” (Burfoot, 3/21)

NPR:
Exercising While Pregnant Is Almost Always A Good Idea
A group of researchers want women to know that when it comes to exercise, there is a strong consensus of benefit for both the mother and developing fetus. "Within reason, with adequate cautions, it's important for [everyone] to get over this fear," says Alejandro Lucia, a professor of exercise physiology at the European University of Madrid, an author of the viewpoint published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. (Hobson, 3/21)

The Washington Post:
A Big Thing Marijuana Opponents Warned You About Is Definitely Not Happening
A state-run survey of 37,000 middle and high school students in Washington state finds that marijuana legalization there has had no effect on youngsters' propensity to use the drug. The Washington State Healthy Youth Survey found that the 2016 rate of marijuana use was basically unchanged since 2012, when the state voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use. In the survey, researchers used the measure of “monthly use,” asking students across all grade levels whether they'd used the drug within the past month. (Ingraham, 3/21)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

Thank you for your interest in supporting Kaiser Health News (KHN), the nation’s leading nonprofit newsroom focused on health and health policy. We distribute our journalism for free and without advertising through media partners of all sizes and in communities large and small. We appreciate all forms of engagement from our readers and listeners, and welcome your support.

KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF (formally, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation). You can support KHN by making a contribution to KFF, a non-profit charitable organization that is not associated with Kaiser Permanente.

Click the button below to go to KFF’s donation page which will provide more information and FAQs. Thank you!